People often ask, ‘why sourdough?’
But really, my mind immediately asks ‘why not sourdough?’
I’m sure you’re thinking of all the reasons why not to consume it and the vast majority of the reasons likely center around either cost or convenience.
Historically (over the last 20 years, at least), sourdough goods often come with a higher price tag than a conventionally, mass produced, and completely uniform loaf that has likely been on the shelves for a week and will last two more after you’ve purchased it. If you try and make it yourself, you’ll also find that a true sourdough loaf can take 24-48 hours to produce with another 12-24 hours worth of foresight and planning to make it and likely hundreds of dollars worth of equipment you may or may not have at your fingertips.
So, why pay the extra money for something that will likely not last as long or look quite as perfect as something you can conveniently purchase at a grocery store? (We’ve got you covered with the planning/prep/making/baking part)
When cost is the main barrier to sourdough, there’s nothing I can really say to persuade someone one way or the other. And, I really don’t want to try and “persuade” anyone to adopt my perspective and experience as their own without first exploring it or experiencing it for themselves. I honor and respect where anyone is on their journey through this lifetime.
Let me tell you my story about why I switched over to long fermented sourdough breads made without yeast and with simple and few ingredients early in my health journey as a chronically I’ll university student living off of a part time income that I had to drive over an hour to purchase.
How it made my body feel.
Taste.
Texture.
I had subclinical digestive issues growing up… my pediatrician chalked it up to my “high achieving” and “perfectionist tendencies” which he categorized as “self induced stress.” It wasn’t until my final presentation in an undergraduate course where I was rushed to the hospital by some of my friends/ classmates, and was diagnosed with severe Crohn’s Disease after a battery of tests. The diagnosis came with a statement from my GI specialist that changing my diet wouldn’t help my symptoms. But let’s be real, even perusing a nutrition minor, my diet was less than ideal.
I asked myself, “what would I have to lose if I did want to see if diet would impact how I felt”? My risk was $9-$13 for a loaf of bread, over an hours drive one way, gas money and the potential that it indeed wouldn’t help me feel differently.
Well, I ate it. It was delicious and afterwards I didn’t feel like I felt when I ate conventional bread or gluten free bread.
So, to a young, sick, broke twenty-something, there was a glimmer of freedom as a trade off for my investment in time and money. Since they were only open on weekends (or maybe that’s when I could only find time to get there? It was a long time ago), I made an effort to save enough money and get there when I could.
Not to mention, the texture of the crumb of the bread was out of this world, and unlike any bread I had ever eaten. The crust was firm and the crumb was soft and shiny but not sticky. The taste was slightly sour but paired well with my favorite spreads in that season of my life (almond/ peanut butter, buttery spread, homemade strawberry jam… oh, and that chocolate hazelnut spread).
Several years later, after I had my oldest son, I started making my own— and what a journey it’s been!
I recently attended a workshop lead by Dr. Bill Schindler and he said something that really stuck with me. We are omnivores. Not by design, but by technology. He is an absolutely BRILLIANT man. He’s written books, been a guest on countless podcasts and has even had a Nat Geo TV show, “The Great Human Race.” But it’s so true. We had to first develop the physical anthropological technology to even harvest grains and seeds because they are not really designed to harvest themselves (scythes, sickles, winnowing, etc. … AND THEN, we had to develop the technology to process the nutrients internally so our bodies can use them because even though nutrients are present in a food, it doesn’t mean that OUR bodies have everything available internally to extract and then utilize the nutrients from said food. Humans only have one stomach and no crop, so we had to develop a technology that allows us to process plant foods other animals eat just as they would — hello fermentation!!! Most plant foods available now are used in their raw state making it increasingly difficult to process them, hence the increasing prevalence of sensitivities to grains, nuts, seeds and vegetables!
At Bury & Essen, every loaf is genuinely made with YOU in mind. The sourdough mother is kept strong with filtered/ structured water & organic flour and is teeming with healthy bacteria to begin predigesting and fermenting the wheat so you can process it more efficiently. Fermentation is intentionally long and without shortcuts. Commercial yeast is NEVER used. We select regionally and organically grown wheat so you can feel good about supporting local agriculture AND not consuming grains grown with pesticides and herbicides. We use a state of the art water system that not only filters the water and removes toxins BUT it also restructures the water to its most pure and bioactive form (like harvesting spring water hundreds of years ago before environmental pollutants— bonus, this water system doesn’t contain plastics!). We use Redmond Real Salt exclusively, so you can get REAL salt with essential trace minerals and don’t consume millions of micro plastics with each loaf. AND, we never use industrialized seed oils like canola, soybean, corn, or safflower oils often found most breads on grocery store shelves.
To give honor to a time honored process, all of our loaves are baked in small batches in a wood fired oven to preserve the historical and cultural integrity of the loaf itself.
Communities of old were built around baking in the wood oven.
Bury & Essen exists to create modern sense of community around the wood oven using time honored, slow food processes.
Have you tasted the difference?
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